Pastor Harry’s Thoughts for May

“When Seasons Shift” 

There’s something about May you can’t ignore. You feel it before you even notice it. The mornings are warmer, the days stretch a little longer, and the heav iness of winter begins to lift. Something in creation starts to wake up again. Trees don’t debate whether they should bloom, and they don’t hold onto dead leaves out of fear. When the season changes, they respond. And May is when you begin to see it—not just the change, but the evidence of it. What was bare starts to fill in, what looked lifeless begins to show color, and what seemed dormant finally starts to bloom.

 But here’s what we often forget—the bloom didn’t start in May. It started in the unseen months before. It started in the cold, in the waiting, in a season where it looked like nothing was happening. Beneath the surface, something was developing. Roots were going deeper. Strength was being built. Life was pre paring to break through. And that’s how God works in us. What we are just now beginning to see, God has often been working on long before it ever be comes visible.

 The challenge is that we don’t always respond to change the way creation does. We can feel God shift ing something in our lives and still cling to what’s familiar. We hold onto old mindsets, old hurts, and old fears—even when God is clearly doing some thing new. And the truth is, sometimes the greatest resistance to what God is doing next is what we re fuse to release from what He already did. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 12:11 that “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” In other words, what feels un comfortable now may be producing something you can’t yet see.

 That’s the tension of a new season. When God be gins to shift things, it doesn’t always feel like growth at first. Sometimes it feels like loss. Sometimes it feels like pressure. Sometimes it feels like everything familiar is being unsettled. But what if that’s exactly how God prepares you? Some of us are still trying to hold onto a version of life that God has already moved us beyond still replaying what was said, still carrying what was lost, still defining ourselves by what we went through. But growth doesn’t happen by revisiting the past; it happens by responding to what God is doing now.

 Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:6–7 that though we may be in heaviness for a season, the trial of our faith is pro ducing something of far greater value. That phrase matters—for a season. What you’re walking through has boundaries. It has a purpose. And it has an end. God never wastes a season, even the difficult ones. What you’re in right now may not be comfortable but it is not meaningless.

It is shaping you, refining you, and preparing you. And sometimes what He’s removing is just as important as what He’s producing. Jesus said in Mark 2:22 that no one puts new wine into old wineskins, because the structure can’t hold what’s new. That’s not just about tradition—it’s about capacity. God won’t pour something new into a life that’s still structured around what used to be. So the ques tion this month isn’t just what God is doing, but what in us has to change so we can carry what He’s doing. Because you can’t step into a new season with an old structure. May is more than a change in weather—it’s a reminder. A reminder that what you’re starting to see now, God has al ready been working on for longer than you realize. So don’t dismiss the small signs of life. Don’t overlook the early blooms. They are evidence that something deeper has already taken root. And when seasons shift, God is not dis rupting your life—He’s developing it.

 Things to Ponder This Month

 1. Where in my life do I sense God is shifting some thing, even if I don’t fully understand it yet? 

2. What am I holding onto that may have been right for a past season, but is keeping me from stepping into this one? 

3. Am I recognizing the small signs of growth God is producing, or am I overlooking thembecause they don’t look the way I expected? 4. What might God be developing beneath the surface I cannot yet see? A Prayer for the Season Father, thank You that You are always at work, even when I cannot see it. Thank You that You are a God of seasons, and that every season has pur pose in Your hands. Help me to trust You not only in what is visible, but in what is being formed beneath the surface. Give me the courage to release what no longer belongs in this season of my life, and the faith to step into what You are doing now. Shape my heart so that I am not resisting Your work, but responding to it. And remind me that Grace and Peace, Pastor Harry & Jennifer even the smallest signs of growth are evidence of Your faithfulness.

 In Jesus' name, Amen.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Harry & Jennifer